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What Makes a Game Immersive?
"What Makes a Game Immersive?" is the second episode of How About This Game? on the GrumpOut channel. In it, Barry discusses the definition of "immersion" as it is used in gamer slang, and how that usage is fundamentally misguided and vague, suggesting better alternatives. Synopsis Barry starts by discussing how people use the term "immersion" to describe numerous aspects of games, and how it usually relates to being sucked into a game's world and spending a lot of time in it. However, he notes that immersion is often held in extremely high regard as a core value in what makes video games good, and that there exists a common assumption that games must be as realistic as possible to be more immersive, and therefore better. Barry argues that realistic visuals are not a viable end goal in striving to make a game more immersive, which he describes as "The Immersive Fallacy" as described in the book "The Rules of Play". Barry notes that constantly improving visual effects and VR seem to be striving towards more immersive experiences through this understanding, but he argues that flawless simulations of reality will not make games better by itself. Barry evokes Frank Lantz's rant about how different representations and interpretations of reality are necessary, because those interpretations give those unique works their value. His and Barry's argument is that games still need rules to guide players and give them something to do, so simply creating a photo-realistic VR environment is not enough to create a satisfying game. Barry then describes how people tend to use the term "immersion" in rather vague terms, in contrast to typical video game terminology that's very specific, and how in isolation the word "immersive" can mean any number of things. To solve this, Barry breaks down the definition into two categories: Environmental immersion and Mechanical immersion. The former describes narrative and aesthetic factors that give a game more context, and is what draws the player into its world, similar to reading a good book. The latter refers to the player losing their sense of mechanical abstraction, acting in the game world as if they were truly there, based on Flow theory as put forward by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. Barry notes how Environmental immersion is what's commonly understood as "immersion", but it still requires mechanical consistency to maintain it. As Barry describes it, Mechanical immersion is primarily broken by disruptive story elements or inconsistent player inputs, while Environmental immersion is broken by seeing something that isn't consistent with the game's setting. Barry describes immersion as breaking down barriers between the player and the game, but notes that it still doesn't make games better just by itself: A fourth-wall breaking game like The Stanley Parable isn't fundamentally worse than similar games that do not break the fourth wall, like Dear Esther and Gone Home, just because of that fact. Barry also draws a parallel between Mechanical immersion and method acting, similar to how an actor would immerse themselves in a role on-stage. To end the video, Barry suggest the viewer to examine their own use of the word "immersive", and find out what exactly they mean when they use it to describe games. He also highlights how important it is to hold value in games as more than just simulations of real life, and instead account for the designers' own built-in rules, rather than assuming VR tech alone would improve pre-existing experiences. External Links Category:How About This Game? Episodes